Task 12- Evaluation

Task 11- Music production

Task 12- Audience feedback

Once I had completed my main production and two print artifacts I created an audience feedback form so I was able to see what other people though of the productions and see if there was any ways I could improve. 

Above shows one of the audience feedback forms filled out, the feedback form above was very positive but it also did suggest constructive criticism to help me improve. 

Task 11- Video Games album Born to Die CD print

This is the CD fold I have created as part of my promotion for my production. 

Task 11- Video Games album Born to Die CD print: Creation of CD

This is my CD layout for the album which I used the song 'Video Games' from for my production video. The front cover of the album shows the protagonist with flowers in the background. I felt this image was the best suited to be the front cover as its recognisable to the production video as one of the scenes show her within amongst the flowers. In addition, the floral garden scene is one of the main focuses of the production. The image is very light which another reason why I choose it, I also enhanced the light by using ‘Pic monkey’ making the image more dreamy.



Text larger and placed at the bottom of the CD






When deciding on what font to use I choose 'Cardo' the same I used for my poster and the same colour of white, I did this as I wanted a continuing theme throughout. The CD needed to have the name of the album 'Born to Die' and the name of the artist 'Lana Del Rey' on the cover. I experimented with where to place the information. I placed the test at the bottom of the page however as its in white it blends in with the white roses on the picture. Therefore I found it more effective when I placed some of the font at the top and some at the bottom of the cover. The spreading of the information made it easier to read.

Text slightly smaller and less bold, spread out  

Two of the images used on the CD are emerges of two images together. I did this by using the editing software 'Adobe premiere'. The image to the right shows one of the images used, I overlaid a London shot of a sign and a zoom in of a rose in the floral garden. I felt it was important to include merged images as its shows the mergences of the different locations in the music video into one. In, addition I used 'Pic monkey' to soften the image making it more light and dreamy. I felt it was important to quote lyrics from the album onto the images for the CD layout making it recognisable to the artist. Therefore, I quoted lyrics from Lana's song 'Summertime Sadness'.

The back cover of the CD layout includes; all the songs on the album, copyright information, record company logos, as well as a barcode. I included all these conventions to make it look like a realistic CD back cover.

Task 11- Poster promotion

 

 

 

 

 

The image shows my final draft of my music promotional poster.  

Task 11- Poster promotion: Creation of the poster

Original image

Image after I used softening tool

This is my final album promotion I created for ‘Video Games’. I created this by using the software ‘pic monkey’ as well as using ‘adobe Photoshop’. I decided on this image of the protagonist walking through the location of the floral garden. I choose this image as I felt it was a recognisable to the production as many of the scenes in the music video are of the protagonist walking through the floral garden. I felt continuity between the two artefacts and the main production is key so people know they are all for the same production. The image I originally used was effective as the colours of the flowers contrasts with the girl’s bright purple dress. However, I wanted to exaggerate this and therefore tried different lightening shades on ‘Pic monkey’.  I used the softening tool for the background as the original image had a dull sky. I also slightly blurred the background and created a focal point on the girl to make her stand out on the slightly blurred background. The colours of the flowers were originally quite light as when the picture was taken the sun was reflecting on them. However, I did over exaggerate this brightness to add to the blurred affect.

I included the front cover of the CD album on the poster as well as the price and the company selling the album. I made sure I included all of the conventions of a promotional cover making it look believable.

Poster with the chosen font I used

When creating my poster I struggled in deciding what font and colour of text to use. I finally decided on the colour white and font ‘Cardo’. I used this font and wrote in capital letters and made it bold, this was so the information stood out on the poster. In addition, the colour

Poster with one of the fonts I experimented with

white I found didn’t always show up clearly as the image background was very colourful however when I played around with different fonts I found ‘Cardo’ make it clear, bold and therefore easy to read. The image to the left shows another font I tested when making my poster, the font doesn’t make the information very easy to read. Therefore I had to make sure the font was very bold and clear as the information is key to the poster as people need to know what is being advertised.

Task 10- Filming: production diary

Date: 12^th November

Location: Home location

Shots: opening scenes and arguments scenes

Equipment needed: Camera and tripod, props like beer cans and clothes to make the scene messy

I filmed many scenes at home as I needed a room where the boy was able to play the video game. I made sure the room was dark and also placed out beer and pop cans as well as clothes on the bed to make the room appear messy, dull and therefore unappealing. There are many shots filmed in this location as it's one the main places used in my production along with the garden scenes. This was because I wanted a continuing contrast of dull and dreamy throughout the production.

 The image to the left is a screen shot of the footage taken for my production. the image below is another piece of footage took in a home location however I have edited it. I edited the colour to black and white to make the mood even darker . In addition, I wanted the home scenes to look negative in comparison to other locations that are lighter as I wanted to show an obvious mood change.

Task 10 Filming- production diary

Date: 24^th October

Location: City location

Shots: Shots to be in the video montage

Equipment needed: Camera and tripod

Health and safety concerns: Careful around busy roads when filming

I only filmed some scenes in the city location as I already had a lot of street shots from when I filmed in London.

Task 10- Filming: production diary

Date: 12^th October 

Location: Floral garden

Shots: Garden scenes, shots of surroundings; flowers, trees

Equipment needed: Camera and tripod

Health and Safety concerns: Had been raining the days before which meant the ground would be wet and therefore could be dangerous, so take care when filming on the grass.

The shots filmed in this location of Blenheim palace are part of the main scenes. At the palace I filmed shots of the main character (Jess) in a rose garden by trees and by steps to get a range of location backgrounds. The image to the right shows Jess about to walk through the rose garden mining the lyrics. This shot is a medium close up and I zoomed out as she got closer to the camera. Most of the shots filmed here involved jess mining the lyrics to video games. This makes filming harder as I had to re-film if she makes a mistake or was out of time with the lyrics. However, when editing I was able to change the speeds of the scenes so her mining fitted the lyrics well. In the rose garden I filmed various shots like pans of jess walking the garden as well and close ups of her sitting on a bench mining, this meant I had a range of shots I could use in just that one location. The weather was very sunny which was beneficial as it make the shots bright which is what I wanted the garden scenes to be like as she was happy to be there in contrast to the dark bedroom.

Task 10- Filming: production diary

Date: 21^st October

Location: London

Shots: Video Montage shots e.g. Street signs, tube station, Streets, London Bridge, London eye, shots of walking the streets of London.

Equipment needed: Camera and Tripod

Health and Safety concerns: not too close to the tube tracks, careful when filming on the city streets due to cars.

The scenes I filmed in London were a variety of shots. I filmed shots of the main character (Jess) walking down the streets of London and looking over the famous London Bridge in order to create another location in the music video and that location being a place she would like to be as opposed to back in her boyfriend’s bedroom watching him play games. Whilst there I also filmed various shots of London’s attractions to put in my music video to create a small montage of various background shots. The weather did make it hard to film as it was raining and overcast making the sky look grey,  where as I wanted it to look bright and only a bit dismal in the music video so I edited the brightness of the shots to suit the video.  I filmed a mixture of shots; wide shots were used when the main character (Jess) was walking down the street as well as zoom in and out's on her walking the streets. I used a low angle shot when shooting big Ben so I was able to scale the building bottom to top.  London was very busy and crowded which meant some shots do have people in them meaning I will have to try and cut them out when editing the footage. I felt the London scenes are important to the music video as it will help portray a location where the girl wishes to be as opposed to back in the messy bedroom. The costume she wore involved fairly normal clothes making her blend in with others around her. However, her jumpsuit is quite formal implying that even though she is in a city with many people she still feels special as opposed to nothing to her boyfriend.

Filming different locations in London enabled me to edit them into many of the scenes. The image to the left is a still shot from the music video where a garden scene is overlaid on a tube shot. I edited many scenes of London into the music video as it helped create another dream-like location the girl would like to go to as opposed to being stuck watching her boyfriend paying video games.

Task 10-Filming: production diary

Date: 12^th October

Location: Blenheim Palace

Shots: shots of palace

Equipment needed: Camera and tripod

Health and Safety concerns: Had been raining the days before which meant the ground would be wet and therefore could be dangerous, so take care when filming on the grass.

One shot I filmed was jess walking down a set of stairs; this was very effective as the sun was shining behind her in the background making her stand out. I also filmed wide shots and close ups of the protagonist (Jess) standing by a massive tree singing as well as her sitting on one. This staging was very effective as it made her stand out against the three due to her bright purple dress contrasting with the brown trees. The costume she wears is a bright purple maxi dress which is quite formal, I made her wear this as I knew that filming in the rose gardens and the grounds would bring bright colours from the flowers and rural landscape and her colour would make complement as well as contract making her stand out. In addition, I wanted her to look more glamorous than she does in the shots in the bedroom as in there it is dark and dirty where as she is now in a dream location.

Task 10- Filming: production diary

Date: 6^th October

Location: Castle location

Shots: Camera shots of old derelict building, wide shots pans

Equipment needed: Camera and Tripod

Health and Safety concerns:  filmed on top of hills to get high shots of the castle so had to be careful when transporting the equipment up and down.

Filmed shots of an old derelict castle to use in the video with the London scenes to show various locations.

The screen shot is of the girl walking down the stairs at the location of the old building. This was another location like London that was used in the music video to present dream-like locations. The weather that day was sunny which benefited me when filming as it helped create the dream feel and it meant I didnt have to edit the footage too much to make it light and dream-like as it already was. The scenes worked well in contrast to the darker bedroom scenes as it exaggerated how happy she was in the locations like the garden opposed to the dark gloomy room.

Task 10- Filming: locations

The images above show some of the locations used in my music video. They include; Kenilworth Castle, Blenheim Palace and London.

Task 10- Filming: production schedule

When (Dates)	Where	What shots are being filmed	Who	What equipment will we need	Health and safety implications
21/09/13	-London	-Shots for the montage in the music video e.g. street signs, tube etc. -Shots of surroundings, girl walking the streets of London.	-Abi - Jess (Girl actress in some scenes showing walking the streets of London)	-Camera -Tripod	-Take care with equipment, busy areas of London.
06/10/13	-Castle location	- camera pans of old derelict Castle	-Abi	-Camera -Tripod	-Take care with equipment
12/10/13	-Park floral garden	-Shoot garden scenes with girl walking around. -Shots of surroundings e.g. shots of close ups of flowers, landscape for the video montage to show throughout the music video.	-Abi -Jess (Girl-main focus of the video)	-Camera -Tripod -Props of formal clothing	-Take care with equipment
24/10/13	-City locations	-Shots for the montage of the music video, shots that fit song lyrics.	-Abi	-Camera -Tripod	-Take care with equipment
12/11/13	-Home location	-Shoot opening scenes of girl and boy in the house. -Plus the scenes that are shown throughout the video in the house when they start to argue.	-Abi -Jess (Girl-main focus of the video) -Dan (love interest of the girl-boy how is playing the video game.	-camera -Tripod -A video game to play -Props to make the room messy(cans and clothes on the bed)	-Take care with equipment

The table above shows the filming schedule for my production of 'Video Games'. I went to film on five occasions and filmed a certain amount of scenes each time. I did experience some limitations when I could film the scenes as the girl who is the main focus of the production is at university so i had to work the schedule around her. 

Task 9- Casting: props

Props needed for the music video include a video game for the opening scenes where the boy will play it, plus props such as drink cans and cigarette butts to make the house look unappealing.  Not many props are needed for the music video I am creating, it’s a main focus on the girl and the location she is in.

The location of the music video was mainly focused in a garden therefore many flowers were used as a prop throughout the music video. Many Scenes involved close ups and zoom out on the flowers. The props of flowers helped portray the theme of contrasting worlds of the dark bedroom to the light floral garden.

During the scenes where the boy plays his video game many cans can be seen on the bed. These props were used to portray a messy undesirable bedroom. The image above shows the character to be holding one of the props whilst singing. She also fiddles with it in other scenes to show her feeling insecure as well as boredom of just watching her boyfriend play video games.

Task 9- Casting

Casting for 'Video Games' video

Once I had decided the plot to the music video and what song I would be using I had to decide what actors I needed for each character in the production. I had to decide carefully about what actors to use for the music video roles as they have to play believable roles.

For the role of the girl in the film I have cast a girl aged 21 which would suit the role as the plot requires a young girl. The girl cast fits the role as she is a young age therefore making her believable to the role as well as relatable to the audience of my music video.

There is also a need for a boy to be cast as the girls love interest. I have cast a boy aged 23 which is suitable for the role as he is a similar age to the girl making their relationship more believable and realistic.

The image above is a screen shot taken from my music video production. It shows both the charcters involved in the production.

Task 8- Final propsal: updated

Once I hade filmed and edited my video my idea proposal had changed slightly. Therefore I have updated my final proposal paragraph to fit the music video I have created.

Final proposal paragraph updated :

My brief plot for the music video is as follows; Dark, dull house, girl watching her boyfriend play a video game her face looks emotional and unhappy. It continues on to show her dressed in formal clothing she looks very natural and fits to the tone of the garden. It then shows her by a tree and she starts to sing. It then shows her walking around a rose garden, it’s bright and formal. The cameras shots of the garden scene are close ups of the girl as well as tracking and wide shots to show her walking around the garden and set the setting. Meanwhile, it will have quick pace editing cuts which cut back to her arguing with her boyfriend about playing the game. The camera shots include two shots and close ups of to show the distance between the boy and girl and the emotions they felt which will show on their faces. In addition, to these scenes it could also flick to other scenes of flowers and nature to fit the scenes of the garden these will act as a superimposition. Near the end of the song it shows more garden and London scenes and then cuts back to the bedroom scene. She is back to reality as opposed to the dream world of the garden.

Task 8- Final proposal

Final proposal for 'Video Games'

My final proposal for my production is a music video for the artist Lana Del Rey’s song ‘Video Games’.  I have chosen to do this as my music video I feel that I will be able to create a suitable production that fits the song accurately. My plot idea I feel fits the song lyrics and will be an accurate representation of what the lyrics mean. 

My brief plot for the music video is as follows; Dark, dull house, girl watching her boyfriend play a video game her face looks emotional and unhappy. There is a zoom in on the screen and she appears on it in a floral bright garden the opposite to the dull house. It continues on to show her dressed in formal clothing she looks very natural and fits to the tone of the garden. It then shows her walking around a rose garden, it’s bright and formal. The

cameras shots of the garden scene are close ups of the girl as well as tracking and wide shots to show her walking around the garden and set the setting. Meanwhile, it will have quick pace editing cuts which cut back to her arguing with her boyfriend about playing the game. The camera shots include two shots and close ups of to show the distance between the boy and girl and the emotions they felt which will show on their faces. It could also flick to other scenes inculding London walking in the streets to show another location where she wants to be opposed to the living room. Shots of flower and nature will also be shown to fits the graden scenes, these will act as a superimposition.Near the end of the song it zooms out and rewinds back to reality where the boy continues to play the video game. She is back to reality as opposed to the dream world of the garden. 

The music video I am creating is in the genre of pop. I choose to create a music video in the pop genre as I feel I know the most about this music genre as opposed to a genre like rock. Therefore it’s important to take into consideration which channel my music video would be broadcast on. I feel 4music created by a German record company is the most appropriate channel to broadcast my music video on. This music channel is known for playing songs in the pop genre. Therefore my pop music video would be a perfect suit for the channel and also will benefit the music video with advertising to the accurate target audience of people who like pop and R ‘N’ B music. In addition, most musicians on 4music include some hip hop and reggae artists. This will help create a wider audience for my music video as these genres have similar conventions to the genre of pop. Therefore people who favourite hip hop videos are most likely to listen to pop songs and artist and they are closely linked as many artist can sing both genre an example is the artist I’m using Lana Del Rey.

Lana Del Rey as an artist has a wide target audience from young teenagers too middle aged women as her songs choices range from pop like the song I am doing “video games” to a more slower beat song. This diversity means that she has many audiences that like her songs. Therefore, the song of my production “Video Games” has to appeal to a wide target audience. I feel that this song is more suited to a female demographic with the age range of most likely mid teenagers to middle aged as many may relate to the song about feeling less important to a man than other things in his life like video games and drink. The video will appeal to the working and middle class as they will be able to relate the storyline of the fall out between the girl and boy and the locations of a house and a floral garden as it makes it realistic as well as relatable.

The genre of my music video is pop and is going to be a narrative based video. I feel a story telling music video will fit the songs as it’s a song about Lana describing the events of her and a man’s relationship. The plot I have created for the music video is narrative based as it involves two various different locations to create a realistic storyline. The setting of the house is the reality of the girl’s situation whereas the garden is a dream world where she can be real and happy as opposed to sad and feeling alone with the boy. I also want to involve artistic performances to the music video whilst in the garden as I feel I could manipulate some camera shots to make it more dream-like. In addition, I may also add certain shots of flowers and nature in the location to add creative scenes to the music video. I feel that these shots will help when portraying what the girl dream-like world involves. These shots will create an artistic side to the video it also shows a music convention by creating almost a montage of certain things that is part of the garden. Whereas, the narrative side of the production is in the house between the girl and boy.

The style of my production I am trying to achieve is elegant during the garden to show her transformation into happy and beautiful as opposed to her former self in the house. The style of the house scenes will be edgy to create a cold depressed emotion as the relationship is non-insistent as he doesn’t pay attention to her.

 The camera shots for the production whilst in the house will be a variety of wide shots, close ups to set the location and express the emotions of the two people as well as two shots the distance between the girl and boy as they aren’t in close proximity of each other as their relationship is failing. I will also use low angles from the point of view of the boy to show he is looking down almost on the girl and vice versa of high angles from her point of view to show he is the superior figure in her eyes. The shots in the garden are going to be a range of shots such as lows angle shots and wide shots to capture the gardens beauty as well as the girls.

The editing techniques I will use include colour changes. During the scenes in the house I will edit them to become black and white to reflect the mood of the girl as she is being ignored by her boyfriend. However, the scenes in the garden will be very bright with bold colours to show the opposite emotions between the two worlds. Another editing effect will be used near the end of them music video, I will use editing and rewind back from the garden scene back to the house bringing the girl back down to reality. 

The mise-en-scene in my production is important to as it will make the video seem realistic. The costumes styling of the girl will be quite plain and casual clothing during the house scenes as it represents the mood she is feeling. Whereas, the costume in the garden will be formal such as flowing dress to show how  she has transformed in this scene to an elegant girl who doesn’t need the man in her life. 

Task 8- Final proposal: Artists background

Lana Del Rey is my chosen artist for my music video. Therefore, I felt it was important to know about her background such as her music artist references and the song I am doing for my music production.

Bio
Elizabeth Woolridge Grant known in the music industry as Lana Del Rey was born June 21, 1986 and is an American singer/songwriter. She started writing at the age of 18 and she signed her first recording contract when she was 22 years old.

Video Games
Her debt single Video Games in June 2011 had a music video created by Del Rey. The song became a viral internet hit with over 20 million views, her second studio album, Born to Die, was released in January 2012.

References
Lana Del Rey has been noted for its cinematic sound and its references to various aspects of pop culture.
Lana described herself as a "self-styled gangsta Nancy Sinatra and Musically, she draws influence from what she deems to be the masters of each genre, including Elvis Presley, Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, Nirvana, Eminem, Bruce Springsteen, and Britney Spears.

Task 8- Final proposal: lyric analysis

Once I had decided to do Lana Del Rey's song 'Video Games' for my music production I thought it was important to analyses the lyric's. I felt this was very helpful as it allowed me to come up with ideas about what I thought the lyric's meant. It also helped me build on ideas I had already previously thought of to include in the music video.